diff --git a/frontend/drivers/platform_unix.c b/frontend/drivers/platform_unix.c
index b750f43c66..338200cc0d 100644
--- a/frontend/drivers/platform_unix.c
+++ b/frontend/drivers/platform_unix.c
@@ -2372,8 +2372,15 @@ static bool frontend_unix_check_for_path_changes(path_change_data_t *change_data
          {
             unsigned j;
 
-            /* A successful close does not guarantee that the data has been successfully saved to disk, as the kernel defers writes. It is not common for a file system to flush the buffers when the stream is closed.
-             * So we manually fsync() here to flush the data to disk, to make sure that the new data is immediately available when the file is re-read.
+            /* A successful close does not guarantee that the 
+             * data has been successfully saved to disk, 
+             * as the kernel defers writes. It is 
+             * not common for a file system to flush 
+             * the buffers when the stream is closed.
+             *
+             * So we manually fsync() here to flush the data 
+             * to disk, to make sure that the new data is 
+             * immediately available when the file is re-read.
              */
             for (j = 0; j < inotify_data->wd_list->count; j++)
             {
@@ -2381,7 +2388,7 @@ static bool frontend_unix_check_for_path_changes(path_change_data_t *change_data
                {
                   /* found the right file, now sync it */
                   const char *path = inotify_data->path_list->elems[j].data;
-                  FILE *fp = fopen_utf8(path, "rb");
+                  FILE         *fp = (FILE*)fopen_utf8(path, "rb");
 
                   RARCH_LOG("file change detected: %s\n", path);
 
diff --git a/libretro-common/compat/compat_snprintf.c b/libretro-common/compat/compat_snprintf.c
index 03bfba64da..f31de72d8c 100644
--- a/libretro-common/compat/compat_snprintf.c
+++ b/libretro-common/compat/compat_snprintf.c
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@
 
 #include <retro_common.h>
 
-#include <stdio.h>
 #include <stdarg.h>
 
 #if _MSC_VER < 1800
diff --git a/libretro-common/compat/fopen_utf8.c b/libretro-common/compat/fopen_utf8.c
index abd50cf275..d9fe35fec6 100644
--- a/libretro-common/compat/fopen_utf8.c
+++ b/libretro-common/compat/fopen_utf8.c
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 #include <compat/fopen_utf8.h>
 #include <encodings/utf.h>
+#include <stdio.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 
 #if defined(_WIN32_WINNT) && _WIN32_WINNT < 0x0500 || defined(_XBOX)
@@ -11,7 +12,7 @@
 #ifdef _WIN32
 #undef fopen
 
-FILE* fopen_utf8(const char * filename, const char * mode)
+void *fopen_utf8(const char * filename, const char * mode)
 {
 #if defined(_XBOX)
    return fopen(filename, mode);
diff --git a/libretro-common/file/config_file.c b/libretro-common/file/config_file.c
index 455d3aa513..50bdfd8e30 100644
--- a/libretro-common/file/config_file.c
+++ b/libretro-common/file/config_file.c
@@ -862,7 +862,7 @@ bool config_file_write(config_file_t *conf, const char *path)
    if (!string_is_empty(path))
    {
       void* buf  = NULL;
-      FILE *file = fopen_utf8(path, "wb");
+      FILE *file = (FILE*)fopen_utf8(path, "wb");
       if (!file)
          return false;
 
diff --git a/libretro-common/include/compat/fopen_utf8.h b/libretro-common/include/compat/fopen_utf8.h
index 67cc289aa6..1fe6a8aab6 100644
--- a/libretro-common/include/compat/fopen_utf8.h
+++ b/libretro-common/include/compat/fopen_utf8.h
@@ -1,13 +1,11 @@
 #ifndef __FOPEN_UTF8_H
 #define __FOPEN_UTF8_H
 
-#include <stdio.h>
-
 #ifdef _WIN32
 /* defined to error rather than fopen_utf8, to make it clear to everyone reading the code that not worrying about utf16 is fine */
 /* TODO: enable */
 /* #define fopen (use fopen_utf8 instead) */
-FILE* fopen_utf8(const char * filename, const char * mode);
+void *fopen_utf8(const char * filename, const char * mode);
 #else
 #define fopen_utf8 fopen
 #endif
diff --git a/libretro-common/vfs/vfs_implementation.c b/libretro-common/vfs/vfs_implementation.c
index 95fbbf1d8d..ce6fa5bf0e 100644
--- a/libretro-common/vfs/vfs_implementation.c
+++ b/libretro-common/vfs/vfs_implementation.c
@@ -264,7 +264,7 @@ libretro_vfs_implementation_file *retro_vfs_file_open_impl(const char *path, uns
 
    if ((stream->hints & RFILE_HINT_UNBUFFERED) == 0)
    {
-      FILE   *fp = fopen_utf8(path, mode_str);
+      FILE   *fp = (FILE*)fopen_utf8(path, mode_str);
 
       if (!fp)
          goto error;
diff --git a/verbosity.c b/verbosity.c
index 4f3548af97..ddb46512a9 100644
--- a/verbosity.c
+++ b/verbosity.c
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ void retro_main_log_file_init(const char *path)
    if (path == NULL)
       return;
 
-   log_file_fp          = fopen_utf8(path, "wb");
+   log_file_fp          = (FILE*)fopen_utf8(path, "wb");
    log_file_initialized = true;
 
    /* TODO: this is only useful for a few platforms, find which and add ifdef */